Aiding Criminals In Nigeria

The discovery just creates more questions than answers.  Yes, a simple answer is worth giving, because you have no way of knowing what questions it might raise in other people.

There are very few times when an answer will not raise more questions (Mostly in Mathematics).

Although many people are not surprised by the development, Nigerian security forces have engaged in excessive use of force, physical abuse, secret detentions, extortion, burning of houses, theft, and extrajudicial executions of suspects.

Truth be told, some personnel have made supreme sacrifices.

Boko Haram, designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department in 2013, is sacking and killing people in villages and towns in the Northeast. Kidnapping and killings in the South-South, South-East, and South-West

According to Counter Terrorist Guide, Boko Haram, which aims to expel Western influence and create a Salafi-Islamist state in its area of operations, has killed an estimated 50,000 people and displaced more than 2.5 million people since it was established in 2002.

Boko Haram frequently uses small arms to attack civilians and regional security forces. The group has conducted kidnappings to elicit ransoms and obtain medical services. Boko Haram has also used untrained kidnapping victims, including women and children, as suicide bombers.

No part of the country is safe with different criminal groups attacking innocent Nigerians uncontrollably. People are not safe in workplaces, even in their homes. The country is unsafe. Nigeria cannot continue like this.

The information available regarding the circumstances of this escape does not indicate that it was related to the usual aiding and abetting of terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen, and other criminals in the country by military personnel.

The incessant escapes or jailbreaks in Nigeria have created a negative image for the country.

Prison escapes or breaks are a pervasive issue in Nigeria due to a lack of security and are a common target for militants. Prison breaks have resulted in the escape of over 7,000 prisoners from Nigerian prisons since 2010.

Security experts opined those high-profile inmates spearhead violence in Nigerian prisons. Government negligence, deteriorating facilities, and overcrowding caused inmates to protest.

Poor prison management style and corrupt practices by prison officials equally led to prison breaks.

However, multiple sources told this writer that suspects were released by the police authorities after bribes were collected.

Confirming this in 2022, the immediate past Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), Leo Irabor, condemned the increase in cases of military personnel aiding and abetting terrorists, bandits, killer herdsmen, and other criminals in the country.

Irabor, in a letter sent to all commanders of various operations, which was exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, asked them to sensitize their officers to the implications of collaborating with the enemy.

He cited several incidents of soldiers arrested in connection with the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists, including the arrest of a soldier who conspired with a known terrorist informant, Babagana Kura, in Bama, Borno.

“Recent happenings in various TOOs reveal an increase in cases of aiding and abetting by personnel. This development was revealed in different reports of arrests of military personnel within a short period,” the letter signed on behalf of the former CDS by one CE Oji had read.

Citizens have on several occasions alleged that Nigeria’s security agencies are working with criminals and bandits in the country.

Also, a former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, recently admitted that some security personnel deployed to fight oil theft were heavily involved in collaborating with those stealing the commodity in the Niger Delta.

Sylva, who spoke on national television during a program tagged “Eagle Eye, noted that the government was planning various layers to monitor the personnel paid to halt the menace.

“There are collaborators. Even during militancy, we had this issue within the military. So the government could not enforce the law effectively because of the activities of these collaborators.

“If you have something like a crime that has gone on for this long and a joint task force is in place to exterminate this crime and the crime has even gone worse, then definitely whoever is in charge is probably not doing their job.

“But at this time, the federal government is giving a note of warning, and there will be other layers on top of those who are operating to monitor them because the problem is to send people to take care of the crime, and if you just leave them on their own, then in many cases they become part of the crime,” he contended.

Sylva stated that the current incessant vandalism of oil and gas pipelines was a metamorphosis of the militancy in the Niger Delta region, which, although led to the training of several youths in the region, has extended to the ongoing challenge.

The former minister noted that oil theft was not a creation of the former administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, stressing that it has been in Nigeria for decades. He said that at a time there was some sympathy for the culprits, which aggravated the matter.

Sylva stated that the situation is no longer sustainable, pointing out that Nigeria is currently losing a lot of its production, a development that spurred the president to act on the matter.

Unfortunately, the killing of security personnel, particularly police officers, in the South East recently elicited concern from Solomon Arase, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission.

Expressing his worry during a courtesy visit by leaders of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Federal Capital Territory (FCT) chapter in Abuja, the former Inspector General of Police emphasized the impact of the attacks on the wives of police officers in the region who are being turned into widows by the actions of gunmen.

Arase urged the killers to understand that the police are not their adversaries and have done nothing wrong. He highlighted the significant number of serving officers lost in the Southeast, appealing for an end to the trend of creating widows among police officers’ wives and emphasizing that they are part of the same community.

This lamentation from the former IGP is reminiscent of the proverb “When the Bush Meat Catches the Hunter!”